Car seat and method for fastening a car seat to a vehicle

ABSTRACT

A car seat configured to be fastened to a vehicle, includes a seat shell and a belt guide disposed at the seat shell to redirect a belt set of the vehicle for rerouting the belt set along a deviation path from an original path. When the belt set is not engaged with the belt guide, the belt set is routed along the original path. When the belt set is engaged with the belt guide, the belt set is routed along the deviation path from the original path. The rerouted belt set improves the symmetry of forces encountered by the vehicle and also improves the kinetics of the car seat during a crash. A break-away feature in the belt guide advantageously absorbs forces at different times during a crash.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/147,475filed Jan. 13, 2021, which is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/384,897, which is filed on Apr. 15, 2019, andclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/659,355, filed on Apr. 18, 2018, and the contents of this applicationare incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a car seat used to protect children duringtransport within a vehicle and a related method, and more particularly,to a car seat designed to accommodate younger children in the rearwardfacing direction and a method for fastening a car seat to a vehicle.

2. Description of the Prior Art

There are many different designs used for rearward facing car seats andconvertible car seats, but all have similar goals. The primary goal ofevery car seat is to keep its young occupant as safe as possible,especially in the case of a vehicular accident. To accomplish this, manydesigns strive to reduce the forces a child may experience during acrash. How this is achieved varies greatly among designs.

Some designs rely on one focal location, determined by how the vehiclebelts interact with the car seat, to absorb unwanted forces. Vehiclesthat use the lap belt alone to secure the car seat typically applysymmetrical forces to the occupant in the event of vehicle collision.Vehicles with both a lap belt and a shoulder belt can present achallenge to the design of car seats because the angled shoulder beltinherently creates an asymmetrical distribution of forces that caninteract with the occupant differently. To counteract this asymmetry,many designs include features that may increase the weight, complexity,and unsightly features of the car seat.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an objective to provide a safe environment for its occupant byredirecting the forces of a belt set of a vehicle advantageously awayfrom the occupant.

The invention features a deviation of the belt set that is aestheticallysubtle while remaining effective and the ability to reduce the forcesexperience by an occupant without significantly increasing the weight orcomplexity of the car seat.

It is also an objective to improve the symmetry of force distribution onthe car seat through a redirection of the belt set. The inherentasymmetry of the belt set is mitigated by creating a new path for it onthe car seat.

It is also an objective to provide a car seat that can reduce the forcesexperience by the occupant in the lateral direction and also reduce loadapplied to the focal belt path opening on the car seat with reduced orsimplified structural components needed at the belt path opening.

The invention also features a break-away design of rerouting the beltset. This design makes it possible to absorb forces at different timesthroughout the event of a crash which leads to a more symmetricaldistribution of forces on the car seat.

It is advantageous of the invention that the break-away design allowsfor initial force of a vehicular collision to be largely redirected bythe features provided by the invention instead of relying solely on thecar seat frame. The break-away design can be reset in the case of anaccidental overload through normal use by the consumer.

The invention also features the symbiotic relationship of a break-awaydesign and a permanent belt guide attachment. These attachments areencountered consecutively with a length of slack allowed after theinitial break-away before the permanent attachment, or hard stop, isrelied upon.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a car seatconfigured to be fastened to a vehicle, includes a seat shell and a beltguide disposed at the seat shell to redirect a belt set of the vehiclefor rerouting the belt set along a deviation path from an original path,wherein when the belt set through the seat shell is not engaged with thebelt guide, the belt set is routed along the original path, and when thebelt set through the seat shell is engaged with the belt guide, the beltset is routed along the deviation path from the original path.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the belt guide isfixed at the seat shell. An open channel is formed between the beltguide and the seat shell, and the belt set is slipped in the openchannel and redirected by the belt guide for rerouting the belt setalong the deviation path from the original path.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the belt guide is arigid structure made by injection molding.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the belt guide isanchored to the seat shell via a webbing.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the belt guideincludes a receiving slot and two support beams where a slit is formedbetween the two support beams and provided as a channel for thereceiving slot, wherein the belt set is slipped through the slit,contained in the receiving slot, and redirected by the belt guide forrerouting the belt set along the deviation path from the original path.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the belt guide ismade by injection molding where the two support beams provide abreak-away structure breakable at a predetermined force.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the belt guide is arigid structure with an open slot, wherein the belt set is slipped andcontained in the opened slot and redirected by the belt guide forrerouting the belt set along the deviation path from the original path.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the webbingincludes a rigid member connected to the seat shell and a sacrificialsew line between the rigid member and the belt guide, and thesacrificial sew line being breakable at a predetermined force to createa length of slack before a hard-stop is encountered.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the belt guide ismade of metal.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the car seatfurther includes a sacrificial break-away tab fixed at the seat shell.The webbing is sewed to the break-away tab to form a slack sectionbetween the break-away tab and a riveted end of the webbing, and thebreak-away tab being breakable at a predetermined force to let out theslack section before a hard-stop is encountered.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the break-away tabis made by injection molded plastic and includes a notch cut in thecenter where the webbing is sewed to the center of the break-away tab.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method forfastening a car seat to a vehicle, includes at least following steps:configuring a belt guide disposed on a seat shell of the car seat; andusing the belt guide to redirect a belt set of the vehicle for reroutingthe belt set along a deviation path from an original path, wherein whenthe belt set through the seat shell is not engaged with the belt guide,the belt set is routed along the original path, and when the belt setthrough the seat shell is engaged with the belt guide, the belt set isrouted along the deviation path from the original path.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment that isillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of a vehicle seat with a seat belt.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the vehicle seat in FIG. 1 fastening a carseat.

FIGS. 3-5 are illustrations showing a first embodiment of car seat withbelt guide according to the invention.

FIGS. 6-9 are illustrations showing a second embodiment of car seat withbelt guide according to the invention.

FIGS. 10-13 are illustrations showing a third embodiment of car seatwith belt guide according to the invention.

FIG. 14 is an illustration showing a fourth embodiment of car seat withbelt guide 6 according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 . FIG. 1 is a front view of a vehicleseat with a seat belt and FIG. 2 is a side view of the vehicle seat inFIG. 1 fastening a car seat. The vehicle seat 1 of a vehicle is equippedwith a three-point seat belt and has a retractor 14 at a shoulder part13 of a backrest 10, a receiver 15 at a first waist part 11 of thebackrest 10 diagonal to the shoulder part 13, and a seat belt 2, i.e., abelt set, extending from the retractor 14 and fixed to a second waistpart 12 of the backrest 10 opposite to the first waist part 11. The seatbelt 2 has a shoulder belt 21 and a lap belt 22 connected to each othervia a buckle 23. The shoulder belt 21 extends from the retractor 14 andis connected to the lap belt 22 and the lap belt 22 is further connectedto the second waist part 12. The buckle 23 is provided to be locked bythe receiver 15 so as to form the three-point configuration: from theshoulder part 13, the first waist part 11, and the second waist part 12with the shoulder belt 21 extending across a passenger's front body andthe lap belt 22 extending across the lap of the passenger. In FIG. 2 , acar seat 3, whose seat shell 30 has a belt path 33 connecting to twoopposite sides, a first side 31 and a second side 32, of the seat shell30, is placed on the vehicle seat 1 and fastened to the vehicle seat 1via the seat belt 2 goes through the belt path 33 with the buckle 23received and locked by the receiver 15.

Please refer to FIG. 3 to FIG. 5 , which are illustrations showing afirst embodiment of car seat with belt guide according to the invention.The car seat 3 includes the seat shell 30 the same as what is depictedand described in FIG. 2 , and a belt guide 4 disposed at the first side31 of the seat shell 30 and neighboring the belt path (referring to FIG.2 ) for redirecting the shoulder belt 21 away from its conventionalpath. In detail, the shoulder belt 21 as a portion of the seat belt 2,can be divided into a first section 211 and a second section 212 whenused to fasten the car seat 3 along with the lap belt 22. The lap belt22 along with the second section 212 goes through the belt path 33. Thefirst section 211 extends from the retractor 14 and connects the secondsection 212 at an inlet 331 of the belt path 33 located at the firstside 31 of the car seat 3. Regarding to a conventional fasteningconfiguration, the first section 211 of the shoulder belt 21 extendsfrom the retractor 14 to the inlet 331 following an original path P0connecting directly between the retractor 14 and the inlet 331.

Referring to FIG. 3 , the belt guide 4 of the first embodiment is fixedat the first side 31 of the seat shell 30 with one end 41 located abovethe original path P0 (referring to FIG. 5 ). An open channel 43 isformed between the other end 42 of the belt guide 4 and the seat shell3, where the first section 211 of the shoulder belt 21 can be slipped inthe open channel 43 (as shown in FIG. 3 ) until stopped by the end 41 ata stop location 44 (as shown in FIG. 4 ). For an exemplary embodiment,the plastic injection molded belt guide 4 changes/redirects the path ofthe first section 211 to deviate from the focal belt path, the originalpath P0, toward the backrest 10 of the vehicle seat 1 following a firstpath P1, i.e., a deviation path. When the shoulder belt 21 is slippedbetween the belt guide 4 and the seat shell 3, the belt guide 4 holdsthe first section 211 of the shoulder belt 21 forward towards thebackrest 10 and out of alignment with the retractor 14. The belt guide 4is a rigid structure that does not release the shoulder belt 21 in theevent of a vehicular collision. Hence, the first embodiment of theinvention improves the kinetics of the car seat 3 while maintaining anease of installation. The user is only required to perform one simplestep in addition to the tradition methods of installation.

Please refer to FIG. 6 to FIG. 9 , which are illustrations showing asecond embodiment of car seat with belt guide 5 according to theinvention. The second embodiment of the invention redirects the firstsection 211 of the shoulder belt 2 downward the original path P0 andtoward the bottom 34 of the seat shell 30 where the first section 211 isdeviated to follow a second path P2, i.e., the deviation path, as shownin FIG. 9 . The belt guide 5 is a break-away structure made by plasticinjection molding and is anchored to the bottom 34 of the seat shell 30via a webbing 54. To redirect the first section 211 downward theoriginal path P0, the belt guide 5 is located at the first side 31 ofthe seat shell 30 between the inlet 331 of the belt path 33 at the firstside 31 and the bottom 34 of the seat shell 30. Please refer to FIG. 6 .The belt guide 5 includes a receiving slot 53 and two support beams 51where a slit 52 is formed between the two support beams 51 and providedas a channel for the receiving slot 53. During installation, theshoulder belt 21 and the lap belt 22 are threaded through the originalbelt paths in the same way as a traditional car seat, and the next stepwill be to place the first section 211, first slipping the first section211 through the slit 52, into the redirecting receiving slot 53. Thefirst section 211 can then be contained in the receiving slot 53 andredirected by the belt guide 5 to deviate from the original path P0toward the bottom 34 of the seat shell 30 following the second path P2.In the second embodiment, the material and part geometry of the twosupport beams 51 of the belt guide 5 can be tuned to be breakable at apredetermined force, allowing the seat belt 2 to release during anaccidental overload or a vehicular crash.

Please refer to FIG. 10 to FIG. 13 , which are illustrations showing athird embodiment of car seat with belt guide 6 according to theinvention. The third embodiment is similar to the previous embodiment byutilizing a sacrificial sew line. The belt guide 6 of the thirdembodiment is a rigid structure made of metal with an open slot 61. Thefirst section 211 of the shoulder belt 21 is slipped and contained inthe opened slot 61 that does not release the seat belt 2 during a crash.For the third embodiment, the first section 211 is also redirected bythe belt guide 6 to deviate from the original path P0 toward the bottom34 of the seat shell 30 following the second path P2 as referred in FIG.9 . The belt guide 6 is also anchored to the bottom 34 of the seat shell30 via a webbing 64 where the webbing 64 includes a rigid member 63connected to the bottom 34 and a sacrificial sew line 62 between therigid member 63 and the belt guide 6. The sacrificial sew line 62 istuned to have shape that is breakable at a predetermined force to createa length of slack before a hard-stop is encountered. The installationand benefits of this embodiment are comparable to the previousembodiment.

Please refer to FIG. 14 , which is an illustration showing a fourthembodiment of car seat with belt guide 6 according to the invention. Thefourth embodiment utilizes the same ridged belt guide 6 from the thirdembodiment while integrating a sacrificial break-away tab 65. Thebreak-away tab 65 is fixed at the bottom 34 of the seat shell 30, thewebbing 64 is sewed to the break-away tab 65 to form a slack section 68between the break-away tab 65 and a riveted end 67 of the webbing 64.The break-away tab 65 is made by injection molded plastic that has anotch 66 cut in the center where the webbing 64 is sewed to the centerof the break-away tab 65. The notch 66 allows the plastic to breakduring a vehicular crash so that a length of the slack section 68 can belet out. After the slack section 68 is released, the riveted end 67 ofthe webbing 64 creates a hard-stop that does not allow any furtherextension of the webbing 64. The sacrificial break-away tab 65 can betuned to be breakable at a predetermined force. In this way, the fourthembodiment has similar advantages and installation methods as theprevious embodiment. The materials depicted in each embodiment of theinvention can be changed to include other embodiments of similarconstruction.

The embodiments of the invention provide a car seat with belt guidedisposed at the side of the seat shell for redirecting the shoulder beltwhen the car seat is installed on the vehicle seat, passed and fastenedby the seat belt of the vehicle seat. The redirection of shoulder beltimproves the symmetry of forces encountered by the vehicle seat and alsoimproves the kinetics of the car seat during a crash. A break-awayfeature in the belt guide advantageously absorbs forces at differenttimes during a crash. All the embodiments distribute the forces ofimpact so that they are not localized at the belt path.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the abovedisclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and boundsof the appended claims.

1. A car seat, configured to be fastened to a vehicle, the car seatcomprising: a seat shell having a first side and a second side, and abelt path extending between the first side and the second side; and abelt guide disposed at the first side of the seat shell operable toredirect a belt set of the vehicle; wherein the belt guide comprises atleast one support beam that defines a receiving slot, wherein the atleast one support beam provides a break-away structure breakable at apredetermined force.
 2. The car seat of claim 1, wherein a portion ofthe belt set is engageable with the belt guide, the portion of the beltset in engagement with the belt guide being routed along a deviationpath from an original path.
 3. The car seat of claim 2, wherein the beltguide is fixed at the seat shell, and an open channel is formed betweenthe belt guide and the seat shell, the portion of the belt set isreceivable within the open channel for rerouting the portion of the beltset along the deviation path from the original path.
 4. The car seat ofclaim 1, wherein the belt guide is a rigid structure made by injectionmolding.
 5. The car seat of claim 1, wherein the at least one supportbeam comprises two support beams, the two support beams defining a slittherebetween that connects to the receiving slot, wherein a portion ofthe belt set is insertable into the receiving slot via the slit.
 6. Thecar seat of claim 5, wherein the two support beams provide thebreak-away structure breakable at the predetermined force.
 7. The carseat of claim 1, wherein the belt guide comprises a guide body and awebbing anchoring the guide body to the seat shell.
 8. The car seat ofclaim 7, wherein the guide body is a rigid structure with an open slot,wherein a portion of the belt set is receivable within the open slot. 9.The car seat of claim 8, wherein the webbing comprises a rigid memberconnected to the seat shell and a sacrificial sew line between the rigidmember and the guide body, and the sacrificial sew line being breakableat the predetermined force to create a length of slack before ahard-stop is encountered.
 10. The car seat of claim 8, wherein the guidebody is made of metal.